Finns are changing

Sauli Niinistö is the favourite to become Finland’s next president, after the former finance minister won the first round of elections last weekend (22 January).

He now faces a run-off on 5 February against a 53-year-old former environment minister, Pekka Haavisto of the Greens, whose 18.7% placed him a distant second. Niinistö, of the centre-right, a 63-year-old member of the governing National Coalition Party, won 36.9% of the vote.

The result means the second round contest will be between two of the most pro-European candidates in the field. Haavisto served as the EU's special representative to Darfur in 2005-07, and Niinistö, a former banker, was finance minister when Finland joined the eurozone in 1999.